Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness
Foreword by Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
Edited by Renée Fleming, 2024
An anthology of essays by neuroscientists, clinicians, artists and educators, this book explores the powerful relationship between the arts and how they can promote healing and well-being. Using evidence from neuroscience, evolutionary biology and real-world examples, contributors highlight music’s unique ability to alleviate physical and mental ailments. It’s shown that music can engage multiple brain regions, promote social unity and even improve fine-motor and speech functions. Furthermore, emphasis is placed on advocating for the use of art therapies within mainstream healthcare.
I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine
By Daniel J. Levitin, 2024
According to this book, music is one of the world’s most ancient medicines. Science and cultural traditions show that things like rhythmic patterns and melodies found in music can help regulate neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine used to soothe trauma and depression. Through a combination of scientific case studies, interviews with fellow musicians, and the author’s own expertise in the field, readers will find a compelling argument for integrating music into modern healthcare practices.
The Schubert Treatment: A Story of Music and Healing
By Claire Oppert, 2024
Playing live music for patients with autism, dementia, chronic pain and those at the end of life can bring about moments of profound connection and relief unlike that of traditional medicine alone. This therapeutic approach is referred to as the Schubert treatment, which combines music with art therapy techniques. By weaving together scientific evidence from clinical trials to the author’s personal experiences as a classically trained cellist and reflections on the role of art, this book demonstrates how this approach can significantly lessen anxiety, pain and emotional distress.
How Music Can Make You Better
By Indre Viskontas, 2019
Music shapes our cognition, emotion and social bonds. By intersecting neuroscience with human impact, this book focuses on how our brain is transformed by music as it responds to simple sounds from melody and rhythm, developing it into an emotionally rich experience. It highlights the idea that music connects us socially by uniting individuals of diverse backgrounds with shared experiences and how music serves in a healing role by helping regulate emotion.
Reverberation: Do Everything Better with Music
By Keith Blanchard, 2022
Music goes deeper into our subconscious than just being used as a form of entertainment. This universal form of communication affects brainwave patterns related to mood and behavior, influencing memories, habits and relationships. Drawing on a variety of interviews from neuroscientists and well-known musicians, this book demonstrates music’s ability to strategically be used to improve sleep, enhance creativity and heighten productivity. Full of practical tips and curated playlists of songs, readers can use this book to support mental health improvement, deepen social connections and ultimately, provide guidance for personal transformation.
Wired for Music: A Search for Health and Joy Through the Science of Sound
By Adriana Barton, 2022
Blending neuroscience, anthropology and biology with her own experience as a classically trained cellist, this author explores the ways music acts as a powerful force for health, connection and emotional well-being. She explains how rhythm and melody affect core memory, motor and emotion centers in the brain. This allows music to act as an antidepressant, pain reliver, sleep aid and memory enhancer.
